Summer Housing Won’t Be Offered This Year

On Feb. 26, the Housing Office announced through email that housing would not be available over the summer. Summer term registration began on Feb. 15.

This is a new change, as summer housing has been available in the past and even made free if a student took six or more credits during the term. To better understand this change, The Insider contacted the Director of Housing and Residence Life at Pitt-Greensburg, Troy Ross.

“The decision was made shortly after they announced that classes were going to be online in the summer, around mid-December of 2020,” Ross said. “We were concerned about having students on campus because we don’t have a nurse and we don’t have food over the summer.”

The concern about the lack of nursing and food services is due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Ross worries about students’ well-being without the necessary staff.

“How are we going to safely do this if a student would need to go into isolation or quarantine because they have been exposed to COVID-19? We wouldn’t have a nurse to do the contact tracing on the health side. We also would not have food service to bring the food to these students in quarantine,” Ross said.

However, the question of what happens to homeless students and those who cannot go home still stands. Ross said students in those situations should reach out to the Housing Office.

“We have always, during this pandemic, made options for those in a difficult situation. We can discuss their specific situation and try to come to a conclusion,” Ross said.

Students have questioned why the email about summer housing was sent after summer registration began. Ross said it was an issue of miscommunication.

“I had talked to the Registrar, we had decided about housing before the original email went out. I didn’t actually see the email. I had followed up with them and asked if they let students know that there was no summer housing. They just, instead, took references of summer housing out of the email. That is why I followed up with an email myself,” Ross said.

When asked about admission rates for the summer term going down due to lack of housing, Ross said not to worry.

“Honestly, if a student was taking online classes, they weren’t eligible for summer housing anyway. They had to be taking an in-person class to be eligible. Or they had to be doing an internship in the area to be here. I don’t think the option of housing is going to make a difference,” Ross said.

Students interested in taking classes over the summer can find more information here.